MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Terrorist” embarrassment for the Bush administration

An alleged former CIA agent currently held in Miami who is accused of terrorism in Cuba and with a pending extradition request from Venezuela is causing growing embarrassment to President George Bush administration.

Luis Posada Carriles, 77, a notorious anti Castro agent is accused of having planned in 1976 the bombing of a Cuban commercial aircraft en route from Caracas to Havana with the loss of 73 lives and for which Venezuela is demanding his extradition.

However for the influential Cuban community living in exile in Florida Mr. Posada Carriles is considered a hero.

Apparently the US Immigration and Customs Service has 48 hours to decide on Mr. Posada Carriles situation, but "normally we don't send anybody to Cuba or to countries which we believe could act as intermediates for Cuba", said Dean Boyd the Miami spokesperson for ICS.

The Venezuelan government said that in the event Mr. Posada Carriles is extradited to Venezuela he will not be handed over to Cuba.

"He will be prosecuted according to Venezuelan law. There's no chance that if his extradition is finally agreed he will be sent to another country. That must be plain clear", underlined Venezuelan vice-president Jose Vicente Rangel.

"If United States ignores international agreements, and specifically the bilateral extradition treaty dating back to 1922, ethically and morally, besides the legal consequences of such an action, United States will be totally disqualified before the world", added Mr. Rangel.

Last week Venezuela requested a preventive arrest order against Mr. Posada Carriles with the purpose of extradition given his participation in the planting of a bomb in a commercial aircraft killing 73 people.

Actually Mr. Posada Carriles was arrested in Venezuela a few days after the attack but in 1985 fled from jail when he was to be definitively sentenced.

The former alleged CIA agent was arrested Tuesday in Miami after having lived underground following the August 2004 pardon granted by then Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso together with three other Cuban-American collaborators involved in security and document falsification crimes.

"He'd been living in the United States for the last two months and US authorities denied his presence until Posada Carriles finally appeared. Venezuela's position is absolutely independent with respect to this case and there's no chance at all that Mr. Posada Carrillos could be sent to Cuba", insisted Mr. Rangel.

Venezuela and Cuba for weeks had been publicly accusing the Bush administration of protecting a "terrorist" involved in criminal actions, mainly the killing of 73 people in a commercial aircraft.

This week Fidel Castro headed a massive march on the US Interests Office in Havana to protest the harboring of terrorism by Washington and President Bush's double standards regarding terrorist actions.